Gabe Zepeda - March 10, 2024
"Walking in Wisdom as Spirit-Filled Worshipers"
God created us in his image to resemble him and center our lives around him. But when we rebelled against God, we decentered our lives from him and marred God’s image with our disobedience. As a result, we all are children of wrath and without hope in and of ourselves (Eph 2:1–3). But Jesus came to reverse our spiritual predicament. As the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of all creation (Col 1:15), Jesus is the new and better Adam we desperately need. He came to recreate us after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:23). In Christ, we have a new identity as children of God. But with this new identity, the gospel calls us to live differently, not how we once lived––alienated from God and in the darkness (Eph 4:18). Paul describes our new identity in Christ as a Father-son relationship. As beloved children, the gospel calls us to walk in love and light as imitators of God our Father (Eph 5:1–2, 8). But how can we walk in love and light as obedient children? And how do we imitate God in a time when the days are evil and in a twisted culture that constantly vies for our undivided attention? According to the apostle Paul, we must walk in wisdom and be filled with the Holy Spirit! If we are to attain mature manhood (Eph 4:13) and no longer be children tossed to and fro by everything that the flesh, the world, and Satan throw at us, we must not be foolish but wise (cf. Eph 4:14). And if we are to bear with one another in love and maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4:2, 3), and no longer grieve the Holy Spirit, we must be filled with the Spirit as worshipers who speak and sing the gospel, give thanks, and submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Eph 5:18–21). The time is urgent because the days are evil. But God is a good Father who gives his children what he requires. He gives wisdom. He promises the Spirit himself. He is recreating a new community of worshipers who are wise beyond their years and overflowing with the power and joy of the Spirit to walk with Jesus. So, as we gather this Sunday to celebrate Jesus through worship and communion, come in humility and receive wisdom. Come empty and be filled.
Scripture References: Ephesians 5:15-21
From Series: "Ephesians: One In Christ"
We are beginning a sermon series focusing upon the New Testament letter of Ephesians. Our series is called “One in Christ”. In Japan, there is a form of artwork called Kintsugi art. Kin means gold. Tsugi means to mend. In Kintsugi art, an artist will take, for example, a piece of ceramic teaware that has been broken during an earthquake or something like that. Instead of repairing it to make it look like the original plate or teacup, the artist will instead use Japanese lacquer and gold to actually highlight the fractures. Out of the broken vessel comes a brand new piece that is considered more beautiful and more valuable than the original. The apostle Paul teaches in Ephesians that God in Christ has chosen to take our lives broken and alienated from God and each other by sin and make one new community. John Stott writes “Through Christ and in Christ, we are nothing less than God’s new society, the single new humanity which he is creating and includes Jews and Gentiles on equal terms. We are the family of God the Father, the body of Jesus Christ his Son, and the temple and dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.” Our hope and prayer is that over the next several months, we would get a vision of the church as God’s new creation, His masterpiece, which is just the beginning of what God intends to do throughout all eternity and throughout the entire heavens and on earth. Out of his brokenness, we become one. Pray that together we would become in real relationships what we are in positionally through the gospel – One in Christ.
